Modern automotive safety systems have dramatically increased the survivability of automotive accidents for occupants of a vehicle. However, the effectiveness of such systems decreases with increasing vehicular speed. While the annual number of fatalities on United States roadways continues to trend downward, speeding remains a contributing factor in approximately one third of all fatal accidents year-over-year. As such, vehicular speed remains the primary contributing factor to preventable fatalities. Despite the dangers presented by vehicular speed to drivers and others who share the roadway, efforts to change driver behaviors have proven ineffective. The driving public remains largely indifferent to speeding despite the risk to their safety and that of others. As such, many jurisdictions have imposed civil and/or criminal sanctions in an effort to reduce speeding. However, the police are understaffed and cannot adequately enforce speed restrictions.
While speeding presents a serious danger to drivers and others who share the roadway, speeding is substantially more dangerous to pedestrians, including children, on neighborhood streets, in school zones, and in parking lots. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that a pedestrian hit by a vehicle going 20 MPH has a 90% chance of surviving, however, a pedestrian hit by a vehicle going 30 MPH has a 50% chance of surviving, and a pedestrian hit by a vehicle going 40 MPH has only a 10% chance of surviving. The statistics suggest that even modest speeding in these low-speed designated zones represents a substantially increased danger to the lives of pedestrians. As such, it is critically important to control vehicular speed on streets and roadways where pedestrians are present.